[Flashback] A sad beginning for a beautiful spirit

[Almech]

Timestamp- Summer 90, 509

It was a beautiful day, several miles outside Alvadas, the sun was shining high above blessing the land with vast life and light. Today was a great day to be alive, Almech was nearly full grown and was already one of the largest kelvics in his clan. Which allowed him to participate in his first hunt much earlier than usual, and on the menu for today, the very tastey spotted bull. His father was the pack leader and the fiercest wolf of them all, his mother, being a horse, could not participate. Almech felt out of place in the group of 5 canines, he was the only dog in the group, the rest were wolves, being larger than them made him feel even more odd. Almech knew though that he had a responsibility to help feed his clan, as they were drifters, following the spotted bull's migration pattern.

Why was the spotted bull meat of choice? not because they were rare, or because they were the best tasting. Simply because they reproduced faster than they could be killed, one bull could feed all the carnivores in the clan for the day. It was simple enough to understand and the young man was anxious to make his father proud. The pack moved in unison spread out except Almech and his father who were going to be paired so Almech could learn. They stopped and his father sniffed the air, he spoke "Do you smell that son? our meal is nearby" they headed in the direction the smell came from and his father stopped again.

He sniffed the ground and pawed at it a bit "See that son? tracks, and see the position? that mean's the herd moved this way". His father proceeded to show him that indeed the heard was hear as they pawed at the ground some more and found several dozen sets of tracks. Indeed they were going the same direction, at this point Almech was antsy, he was so ready to make his father proud. The pack moved concealing themselves behind trees and brush etc... and a mile or so down the trail his father spoke up again "See that thornbush? what is significant about it?". Almech paused and eyed the bush up and down "I'm not sure" he approached the bush for a closer look.

He then smelled that a spotted cow been near it, his nose twitched and sniffed, following the scent. Up until his noce was prodded by a thorn and he let out a slight yelp. Upon closer inspection it dawned on him, the scent was strongest where branches had been broken and then noticed some hair of the animal. Almech sighed "How did i miss that?" he asked himself outloud rhetorically. His father simply chuckled "Always pay very close attention to your surroundings my son sometimes the most important details are also the smallest". Almech nodded and followed his father, the scent was getting stronger and with the increase in strength of scent his father would slow down slightly.

"To be a successful predator you have to be able to stalk your prey efficiently, this means, you can't be seen, heard, or smelled, never stalk your prey when you're downwind, step carefully and lightly, always stay hidden". Almech understood and did what his father said, it was almost time, he could smell the bulls as if they were in front of him. Him and his father crouched low, his father signaled the others to begin, they could see a large herd of spotted bull. A few of them in the back looked old and worn out, "Always go for the easiest prey" his father whispered. Their 3 hunting brethren ran out of hiding from 3 difference sides {color=blue]"You'll know what to do when i give you the signal"[/color].

Almech watched as the herd scattered, rushing their young ones along, the old tried to get away but they were too slow. Their 3 brethren surrounded a single large bull and it desperately tried to get away, but the pack was too agile for that, that creature's death was assured. Suddenly the 3 of them lunge snarling as the each bit into a part of it's body, yanking downwards trying to bring down the large beast. Then his father bolted out with great agility, he lept into the air sinking his teeth deep into the back of the bull's neck. He jerked and jerked, the bulls blood now trickling onto the ground and Almech started to drool.

It was time, his father looked right at where Almech was hiding, and flipped his ears in a certain pattern. Almech bolted, his paws hitting the ground trampling it with his great weight and size. He was nearly half the size of the bull itself and he could see in the bull's eyes that it knew these were it's last moments of life. Almech pounced gripping the bull's throat in his jaws, and with a violent and powerful thrash threw the bull sideways onto the ground. Almech didn't let go until he felt that the bull's heart had stopped, the kill was now complete. His father and the rest of the pack rejoiced, tackling him and pawing at him in the playful way canines do and began howling into the sky, Almech joined them, letting their clan know that it was time to come and eat.

[Almech]

The rest of the clan had migrated to where Almech's pack was by sundown, it was like any other night. Feasting on the carcass Almech had another of his thoughts about his size, he required much more food than everyone else. While the rest still seemed unsatisfied with the volume of meat in their bellies, he let out a short grunt that had a hint of a whine to it. The clan elders had built a fire as tonight was expected to be quite cold, Almech lied down on his side outside the fire's perimeter but just close enough to feel the heat radiating from it. He just layed there watching everyone socialize and partaking from time to time. He was treated as an outcast by other's his age, his only real friends were his mother and father, but they only provided him with so much. He longed for a friend, someone to talk to about things he couldn't talk to his parents about.

His ear kept twitching, he didn't understand it, weird sounds, like nothing he'd ever heard before and the other's seemed oblivious to it other than his pack. He saw that their ears were twitching too but they paid no attention as if it were normal. Everyone was gathered around the fire now, the other's his age were closest to the fire, they would whisper back and forth, look at Almech and then turn around to snicker. He grunted again, this time with an irritated tone, he took a deep breath and set his head upon the ground taking in another generous helping of the night air, atleast he couldn't hog all of that. He looked up at the sky, his ears still twitching from the odd noise, and looked at the stars up until his eyelids were too heavy to stay open, the young kelvic slowly drifted off to sleep.

He dreamt of running through a field of tall grass, chasing a rabbit, not for food, simply because it was fun, somehow he knew that the rabbit knew it was a game too. He barked playfully pouncing at the rabbit as it had stopped for a quick breath, it quickly hopped out of the way. Almech found himself tackling the ground and rolled several times, he let out a sound, the closest thing to a laugh a dog could make. He rolled to his feet and stood on his hind legs looking for moving grass where the rabbit might be, he saw a patch of grass rustling a few meters away, he barked as sort of a "Here i come" kind of statement. He started running towards the rustling grass and haulted suddenly at a great light, and from the tall grass stood a woman.

She seemed to radiate beauty that filled his body with warmth and content, Almech literally couldn't believe his eyes, lightly bronzed skin, long wavy light brown hair and blue eyes that seemed to peer into his very soul. He was compelled to shift into his human form as well, he'd never done this before, he never felt the need to. He approached the woman slowly as she peered into his eyes, being a dog he couldn't help but lean down, his head next to hers and took in her scent. The woman smiled but the smile quickly faded, and the look of content was soon replaced with panic, she stumbled backward several steps. Almech moved toward her then the look of panic turned to that of terror as the woman opened her mouth to let out a blood curdling scream. It was truly a horrific sound, one that literally made Almech's skin crawl.

The beautiful dream turned to a nightmare as the very fabric of reality seemed to be tearing apart, and in the blink of an eyes his dream world was shattered. He woke up spooked and opened his eyes to a horrible sight, the woman's screaming, was real, his mother stood before him in human form "Run Almech! RUN!!! his mother yelled. Almech stood up, still in a daze and a dark figure came from the sky, before he could say anything the figure flew passed his mother. It's claws ripped into the flesh of her stomach, her skin hung from small bits that hadn't been completely torn off. Her entrails spilled onto the ground before him with a horrifying sloppy, wet sound and her crimson blood quickly formed a large puddle at his feet.

He was truly horrified and enraged, a nearly invisible enemy was slaughtering his family. It was only just now that he was hearing the same sound as before the high frequency that only him and his pack seemed to hear. All around him, they were everywhere, tearing his people apart, many being snatched up and then dropped from high altitude. He did what he could running around, lost as to what to do, he would fight off one just to see the ones he's protecting be killed by another. Helplessness washed over him and he let out a loud mournfull howl into the sky, his father limped toward him losing much blood "Forget...about us.....just....get out..of" and he collapsed on the ground, closed his eyes, and died.

If a dog could cry Almech would have been, he stood now near their makeshift firepit as he eyed the creatures now landing, surrounding him. These, monsters came closer and closer, taking step after painfully slow step. Almech began to growl and snarl with a ferocity that even his father couldn't achieve. Fury, confusion, and boiling hatred that seemed to be steaming off of his being like a thick blanket of fog. The rest stopped but one of the creatures continued toward him, and it let out a high frequency shriek, the pain for Almech was unbearable. It actually caused him to lose control and shift, he yelled in pain as tears of sorrow rolled down his now human face and a deep haunting voice came from this creature "You now belong to me, I trust you don't wish for me to harm you further". Almech looked at the man with resentment, he had no choice but to do as he said.

[Macabre]

Thread Complete!
“Unbelievable. You, [subject name here], must be the pride of [subject hometown here].”

Almech
XP: Hunting 1, Tracking 1, Running 1
Lore: Spotted Bulls, The Scent of Zith

Notes: Guest grading for Fallacy. Congratulations on your first thread! A few things of note: Kelvics cannot speak aloud in their animal forms. While they can communicate, they communicate as animals do, which is not through spoken tongue but body language, and audible signals (hoots, barks, growls). They probably wouldn’t build fires or snicker about an outcast, either. You’re a part of the pack, or you aren’t. Animal traits must be taken into account when playing a Kelvic; they are animals first, humans second.

Also, please be aware of your spelling and grammar. Using a spell check in your browser or a program like Microsoft Word that takes grammatical errors into account are very useful tools.